Go Directly to Jail. Do Not Pass Go.

I just don't understand it. It wasn't that long ago that hit-and-run accidents were a rare occurrence. Now, it seems that it's rare when someone actually stops after hitting a pedestrian.

How could anyone do that? I suppose I could understand that some people might panic at first. But to drive away and leave a person lying in the street -- injured or dead. To leave without getting help? How could you live with yourself after that?

These are the thoughts that I have whenever I read about a hit and run accident. The case of 15 year old Kayla Peter from East Falls is one case that is especially egregious.

The driver of the car that killed Kayla Peter, Susanna Goihman, has finally pleaded guilty to the hit and run death, more than a year after the June 19, 2005, accident. See Tears from judge at hit-run sentencing and 'I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SAY I'M SORRY'.

The horrific details, from a November 3, 2005, Philadelphia Inquirer article (not available online), are as follows:

A Philadelphia grand jury has concluded that Susanna Goihman was very drunk when her white Lexus struck and killed a 15-year-old girl this summer. The former Queen Village restaurateur will be charged with homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence, the District Attorney's Office said yesterday.

The grand jury's report, released yesterday, details Goihman's activities on June 19, the night Kayla Peter was killed, presenting Goihman as a heavy vodka drinker whose dalliance with a married man contributed to the accident.

* * * *

According to the grand jury report, Goihman, 42, drank with a friend in Manayunk on June 19, then joined Alberto Delbello, owner of Il Tartufo, and his family as they enjoyed Father's Day dinner at his Main Street establishment. After Delbello's wife left with their two young children, Delbello and Goihman went back to her East Falls home, where they had sex, the report says.

Goihman, Delbello told the grand jury, insisted on giving him a ride back to the restaurant. After dropping him off in Manayunk around 11:30 p.m., Goihman returned home, a trip that took her along Ridge Avenue.

About the same time, Peter, a rising junior at John W. Hallahan Catholic High School for Girls, was returning to her home in East Falls after shopping with friends. She was crossing Ridge in the northbound lane when Goihman's car crossed the double yellow lines on the middle of the roadway and struck her, accident investigators said.

The impact threw the teenager's body onto the hood of the car, into the driver's-side rear-view mirror, then under a parked car. She died at the scene.

One witness told the grand jury he heard the impact and saw the white car come to a complete stop, reverse briefly, and then drive away. No one stepped out of the vehicle.

Goihman went home, locked her door, and went to bed, one of her friends told the grand jury. She was aware something had hit her car, the friend said, but thought it might have been a brick. Goihman learned about Peter's death through a television news broadcast, the friend said.

An expert in forensic toxicology testified that Goihman was intoxicated at the time of the accident, and likely had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.15 percent, almost twice the level that legally defines intoxication in Pennsylvania. He based this conclusion on Goihman's size, the total amount of alcohol she consumed, and observed signs that she was drunk.

Whatever her supposed excuse for not stopping initially, once she realized what had happened (after she sobered up), she should have come forward. Instead, she refused to cooperate with the investigation for months, until indicted by the Grand Jury. Of course, that reprehensible conduct only added to the grief and agony for the family of Kayla Peter. Based upon the facts of this case, the 3-6 year sentence that Goihman received just doesn't seem appropriate in light of her conduct. Nor will the results of the civil case against Goihman that the Peter's family brought. See Driver now faces civil suit for fatal hit-run accident.

I have followed this story (including the vigils that were held in front of Goihman's home). We used to live about a block or so from the East Falls home of Goihman and my daughter's best friend still lives down the street from there. I didn't know the Peter family, but my daughter is about the same age as Kayla, and she often takes SEPTA home from the mall. As a parent, I can certainly relate to the family.

And again, I can only ask: how can you just leave another human being to die on the street -- no matter what the circumstance of the accident?

There is also a blog by the mother of a friend of Kayla Peter that covers this sad case, Kayla Peter.

UPDATE: John Grogan of the Inquirer also wrote a column on this, Goihman's contempt was quietly outrageous, expressing some of the same sentiments. As he said:

She could have said she was sorry for behaving so badly in so many ways. Sorry for her moral cowardice. Sorry for reminding all of us of the dark, selfish, inhuman side of human nature.

Mostly, what she could have said and should have said was this, to Kayla Peter's mother, Melissa Mann:

"From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry for stealing your daughter from you. I am sorry I cannot give her back.

"I am sorry for running away and leaving her there like a broken rag doll. I am sorry for not stepping forward, and for putting you through the drawn-out agony of this long investigation.

"I am sorry that in three years I will be out of prison with my life back but you will barely be settling into your life sentence of loss.

"And one more thing. I am sorry - so, so very sorry - that the life I took through my incredible bad judgment was an innocent child's and not my own."

Tags: Philadelphia, Philly, News, Law, Kayla Peter, Susanna Goihman